Back Again?
by chocolvr260
Summary: Alex is sent back to Brecon Beacons, along with K-Unit who is going to do extra training. K-Unit expects to see the Cub they remember, but what happens when that Cub was lost more than two years prior? And how will Alex, after losing everyone, react to being back again? Rated T to be safe. Minor swearing, violence and injury.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: This is my first Alex Rider fanfiction. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but no promises :) Hope you like it, and review! Tell me what you think :D_**

**_Disclaimer: If I was a renowned author, I would not be on this website. 'Nuff said.  
_**

The company continued to talk in low, mournful voices to each other, or with overpowering, sympathy-laced voices to the parents of the unfortunate victim. They never even noticed the presence of one very small-looking boy, with his shoulders hunched, and his expression openly miserable.

Normally, this boy would be considered handsome in every aspect of the word, but for today, his expression, his body, every part of him for that matter, was too mangled with grief for any passerby to look past and see the better aspects of him.

While in a normal situation, anyone seeing a person in this much grief would be overwhelmed by an intense need to give that unfortunate person a hug, this was not the case for this boy. His aura, if there were such a thing, seemed to give off signals that people would be foolish to ignore. He seemed to scream _'I'm volatile, I'm dangerous, walk away right now!'_, without uttering a single word.

Which brings us to another point about the boy: he was silent. While everyone else in the room offered their condolences to the parents, when he reached them, he merely nodded. Nothing more, nothing less, to anyone who tried to start a conversation.

That is, until he reached one person, a man named Ben Daniels, specifically.

This boy treated Ben Daniels, or Agent Daniels as he was known in the workplace, to a gaping, open mouthed expression of surprise before the curt nod.

Personally, Ben was surprised that he had gotten anything more than a nod from the tall 16 year old. He was usually more skilled at hiding his emotions than this. For this boy was none other than MI6 tool, Alex Rider.

Not that Ben could really blame Alex for his show of emotions. Today, after all, was the funeral of his best mate, Tom. Alex blamed himself for the death of his friend, and was dying inside over it.

Little did Ben know, while Alex did blame himself somewhat, for not being strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, his main concentration of blame was not directed towards himself; rather, it was directed towards a man sitting in the head office of one Royal and General Bank. Or, he seethed to himself with a sudden bout of anger, the head of bloody MI6.

But then, just as quickly as the anger had come, it was drained out of him, leaving him cold and empty. This was his best friend's funeral. He should hardly spend this time yelling at Blunt (inside his head, of course), instead, he should be reflecting on his friend's admittedly short life, not the cause of his untimely death.

For the next few hours, from the time he arrived to the ending of the ceremonies, Alex spent a private time which we shall not reflect on, so that Alex is able to keep some much-needed privacy in his life.

After the funeral, Alex headed home, thoroughly depressed. This, of course, was understandable. He had lost his best mate just a few months after losing Sabina. He sat, curled up on his favorite couch, wrapping himself in the cloud of dark feelings that seemed to follow him around like a storm cloud. After resolving to get up after just a little bit longer, the phone began to ring it's annoying, repetitive, destined-to-give-any-listener-a-headache kind of ring. Alex was hard-pressed to not just ignore it, but perhaps it was something important, and that itself was enough to get him to the phone.

"Hello?" His voice seemed to echo out over the phone line.

"Alex Rider. The Royal and General requests your immediate presence to discuss details of your account." Alex was about to hang up on the woman, but something about this situation was sending shivers up his spine. He had learned long ago not to ignore his senses- they had saved his life enough times for him to learn that particular lesson.

"I'll be there in thirty," was his crisp reply.

"We'll send a car," came the reply, as Alex knew it would.

"No need," he said, rather civilly he might add, "I'll take the tube." Though the car would, undoubtedly, have been much more comfortable, he felt like he was holding onto one last piece of his old, naive self by refusing to take the car.

All he got in the way of response was a detached, "Very good," before the incessant beepings of the phone.

By the time he reached the bank, he was jumpy and nervous, which was nothing compared to how he was when he reached the threshold of the building. He glanced back at the surrounding building, while carefully skirting around the place where he had been shot.

The guards that happened to be on duty both gave him a reassuring smile; they had thought him and his actions a little strange, before that had learned what had happened a little less than two years before.

It was easily said that they had gained a deal more respect for him the moment they found out what the unorthodox spy had gone through on the doorstep of Military Intelligence Sector Six's own doorstep.

After successfully maneuvering past his... ahem, trouble spot, he walked to the elevator. He was given nothing more than a passing glance by the secretary, which was rather foolish in his opinion. What if someone disguised themselves as him and... did something.

Oh, never mind. He had been up to Blunt's office a total of eight times for missions from MI6, and numerous other times for others from other agencies, and debriefings. So, he supposed, it wasn't TOO odd that he wouldn't be kept from going up immediately.

Anyway, the elevators would take care of any unwanted visitors, a fact he was reminded of as soon as he entered it, and sensed the many different machines analyzing him and sending all the data to either Smithers or Blunt's office withing a few milliseconds. This, also, unnerved him a bit, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle.

He quickly fixed two of his possible three masks on- one that covered most of his feelings, but gave away his inner feelings through his eyes, as well as his completely emotionless face, which he used in the company of any MI6 operatives. Except perhaps Ben, he amended within his head. His third mask was reserved for his missions. It gave away what others wanted to see- happiness even when he was sad, that sort of thing. He used to use it on his friends as well, but now, Alex reflected grimly, he had none.

This thought, while depressing, wasn't enough to make the slightest dent in Alex's mask. He steeled himself even further, in from of Blunt's door. When he found himself sufficiently ready, he burst through the door, without so much as a knock. One pair of startled eyes met his, as well as another pair of blank, lifeless eyes.

"What do you want?" He demanded, without so much as a pretense of politeness.

"Sit down, Alex," came the drab voice. Already in the motion of doing so, Alex splayed himself across the chair, taking up as much room as possible. Alex smugly noted the brief flash of annoyance visible in the head of MI6's eyes.

"Well?" Alex drawled. His efforts were rewarded with the brief second Blunt took to recompose himself. No matter how victorious he was feeling at the moment, he still knew who was in charge in this situation. Still, two shows of emotion in one day! How weird was that?

"Alex," Blunt said, decidedly, well, bluntly, "we are sending you back to the SAS training center in Wales, Brecon Beacons."

Alex stared at him for a moment, and was only then able to come up with the rather intelligent-sounding answer- "What?"

**_Hope you liked it, and remember to press the little review button!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited! You inspired me to get off my lazy butt and write this! There definitely will not be updates every day all the time, but I'll try to be as fast as I can. That little spiel done, please review, and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Need I say this? It's horrible on my self esteem. Anyway, I do not own Alex Rider, nor have I even met Anthony Horowitz.**

Alex could see Blunt opening his mouth to repeat his statement, so he quickly cut him off with a "This is ridiculous what the hell do you think you're doing?" speech.

While this shut Blunt up for a few minutes, he simply continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted at all, after Alex's spiel was complete.

"There is a car waiting out front for you. You will have one hour to pack, then you will begin the ride to Wales."

"Make sure to bring something to do," Mrs. Jones, or as Alex still like to call her, in his head of course- Mrs. Blunt, cut in. "It will be about a five hour ride, give or take about a half hour."

"Sure," Alex said icily, "thank you for being concerned about the state of my _entertainment." _Even Mrs. Jones flinched at his tone, and Blunt blinked, which was, in his case, the equivalent of a normal person jumping a few feet in the air and screaming. Unfortunately for those at the camp, Alex was officially pissed off.

Mrs. Jones seemed to sense this, despite Alex's undented facade, and attempted to placate him. "Alex," she started, in a faux-kind voice, a voice she often reserved for convincing people that they wanted the same things she did, but then was unable to continue.

"Since when has anything been for my benefit?" He asked, seemingly reading Mrs. Jones' mind. And with the silence left by that question hanging in the air, he walked out, with the deadly grace and poise that had been one of the first things he had noticed in Yassen. Yassen Gregorovitch, another relation left in the dust by Alex's destructive nature.

Though Yassen's death had been of his own volition, at some points he felt as if he were to blame. After all, it was because of him that Yassen had found it necessary to take the bullet.

"I wonder what he'd be doing, were he still alive?" Alex mused aloud. Five hours away by car ride, give or take about half an hour, one blond-haired, graceful MI6 agent sneezed.

ARARARARARARARARARARARARARAR ARARARARARARARARARARARARARAR ARAARARARARARARARARARARARARA RARARARARARARARARARARARARARA RARARARARARARARARARA

Back at his house, vaguely amused at the uncomfortable looks of the agents sent to "help him", Alex packed up for what he had been told was going to be a month long stay. Give or take a few weeks, Alex thought sarcastically.

Despite his calm outer shell, Alex was a whirlwind of emotions. Goddamnit, he was still mourning his best friend! That had to count for something, right?

Anywhere but here, Alex thought, anywhere but here.

But now was not the time for self-pity, he told himself. Not that it ever really was.

_Alex stumbled home, head bowed, and tears pricking his eyes. The boys at school had not been very nice, and they all ganged up on him. Shouting, screaming at him. Worst was the laughter when he had finally given up at saying anything back, just given._

_Alex arrived home, and was surprised to find that Ian was already there._

"_Ian," Alex's voice cracked, before he hastily cleared it, "what are you doing home?"_

"_Hmm?" Ian replied, looking up from his paper. "I got out of the bank early today."_

_He was about to look back down at the book he was reading, which Alex couldn't quite read the cover of, when he did a double take._

_Before Alex could blink, Ian was beside him. Faintly, Alex wondered how he was able to move so quickly._

"_Alex," Ian said, sharply, "what's wrong?"_

_Alex shifted his eyes away. "It's nothing, Ian, honest."_

_Ian executed something similar to an eyeroll, and moved closer to Alex. "Lying won't work on me, young man."_

_Alex looked straight into Ian's eyes and tried again, "Nothing's wrong, Ian." After a few moments of an intense glare, courtesy of the other man, Alex broke._

"_It's really not anything, some boys at school just cornered me and were saying that nobody ever wanted me," he hung his head, ashamed, "That's it."_

_Ian gave him one more long, searching gaze, and went back to his chair. "As long as that's everything," he said, "you're right. That is nothing."_

_That summer they traveled around the world, to places such as the Holocaust Museum, and Africa, where he saw how much worse off other people were than him. From that moment onward, he had never allowed himself to drown in feelings of self-pity, and was able to move forward after tragedies._

Alex finished packing up some of the gadgets Smithers had given him, with a "Just in case" and a wink. Alex couldn't keep himself from smiling at the thought. He really liked Smithers and knew, after a long talk in his office, that the man was on his side. Not that he hadn't already suspected that, the boy thought, what with his gadgets, and even his backup once.

Finally, after he decided he had taken a long enough time to sufficiently irritate the agents, he moved downstairs.

"I'm ready now honey!" He raised his voice an octave higher, and was pleased when the agents whipped their heads towards him, obviously confused.

What has the world come to, Alex reflected, to have agents that can't even hid their feelings properly. Oh well, he sighed, it's not like it really matters to me.

"Very well," said Agent 1, as Alex had come to call him in his head, "Let's get a move on then."

Agent 1 then turned towards the door, beckoning towards Alex for him to follow, before realizing that Alex was ahead of him, already out the door without a sound.

The agent shook his head, amazed. Just who _was _this kid?

Meanwhile, Alex smirked. He had realized that the agents had not been briefed on his identity, and was therefore prepared to give them a run for their money.

ARARARARARARARARARARARARARAR ARARARARARARARARARARARARARAR ARAARARARARARARARARARARARARA RARARARARARARARARARARARARARA RARARARARARARARARARA

Five and a half hours later, two very disgruntled agents got out of the car. They had been expecting a child, and instead, they got this... this... demon!

Alex grinned smugly, on the inside of course. It had been a long time since he had been able to mess around with people like that, and was pleased to find he had retained his "touch".

His touch at being extremely infuriating, that is.

Whoever this kid was, the agents grumbled, they were just happy to be away from him. Upon seeing them about to leave, Alex grinned his flashiest, largest smile he could manage, and waved, shouting.

"Palaam! Umaasa ako na mayroon kang isang ligtas na biyahe!" _Goodbye! I hope you have a safe drive!_

Suddenly, a startled voice spoke behind him, "Nagsasalita ka Pilipino?"_ You speak Filipino?_

Alex turned to the voice, to find the sergeant that had been there at his last stay, before replying smoothly, "Oo. Pati na rin Pranses, Aleman, Arabic, Ingles, Olandes, Hebrew, Polish, Welsh, at ilang mga Hapon." _Yes. As well as French, German, Arabic, English, Dutch, Hebrew, Polish, Welsh, and some Japanese._

"Comment avez-vous appris ces langues?" Where did you learn these languages? Came the cautious reply.

Alex shrugged. "Je me déplace."

The sergeant nodded. "Welcome back to Breacon Beacons, Cub." While on the outside, the sergeant looked neutral, a little (or a lot) on the angry side, on the inside he was impressed. He alone had read Cub's complete file, and respected the child, no, man, a great amount. Cub had been through more than the sergeant could dream of, and was still able to come back for more. That was worthy of true wonderment.

"K-Unit is waiting for you in Hut C. Go on."

With and impending sense of doom, Cub began the trek towards C Hut.

**Remember to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry guys! I meant to post this like, a week ago, but there were some complications in my life... But here I am now! Hope you enjoy it, and warning for swearing! Anyway... on to the story! After that pesky disclaimer, that is.**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like a fifty some year old man to you? I'm like... over 3 decades younger than that (thank the lord) and a girl. So there. *proceeds to have angst over the lack of AR ownership***

Wolf was angry. Why the hell did they have to be there- at a fucking training facility! He had been shot, sure, but it wasn't like he was slowing anyone down. He was fine! The fact that he wasn't at home, but was sent back to Brecon Beacons only added insult to the injury. The injury, that is, of him being insulted. Not the wound. Because, like he said, it was FINE!

Eagle and Snake were mostly neutral about the position they were in. Okay, so Eagle was excited, but it wasn't like that was anything different from his normal persona, so the the unit didn't worry too much about it. Snake was, well, Snake, and simply thought it a good time to touch up on the basics.

And Panther, their new addition, was apprehensive. He had been at Brecon Beacons before, but that was with his training unit. This was his first time with K-Unit outside of the missions, and it was making him nervous.

Then, suddenly, a person crashed through their doorway. Reflexively, they stood to attention. Realizing, then, that it was a fellow soldier, they stood more easily.

"K-Unit. Your presence is required at the Sergeant's cabin as soon as possible." Everyone in that cabin knew that 'as soon as possible' basically translated to 'right now, you lazy arses!'

Wolf nodded at the messenger, and they began to get into their more formal attire.

"Come as you are," the messenger said stiffly. K-Unit all glanced at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Nevertheless, they trekked their way over to the sergeant's cabin, wondering among themselves what was so important that they had been able to bypass basic code, and just go.

The answer to their near-rhetorical question was standing in Hut C, with a certain aura of poise and calm surrounding him. Because, to the rest of the world, that's what he was. Relaxed.

On the inside, however, it was a totally different story. Why the hell did MI6 think this was a good idea? He inwardly seethed. This was so bloody stupid it wasn't even funny! He was about to face the unit that had made his life here hell the first time. And the shaky truce he had made with Wolf at Point Blanc... well, he could pretty much say sayonara to that. Wolf was back with his unit this time, and there was nothing left to save Alex's soul.

Back to K-Unit. While Alex had been boiling in a cauldron of his own rage, they had reached the sergeant's cabin.

Upon entering the hut, they stood to attention.

"At ease, soldiers." Came the familiar voice. K-Unit relaxed in both body and mind, once hearing this. The command was something they were used to, and quite frankly, it was comforting.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." The sergeant began.

Wolf couldn't help himself (on the inside of course) from replying sarcastically, _No, we don't really care at all. This is just so totally routine, it's not even funny._

He then berated himself. Did he seriously just say 'totally'? That was so totally unmanly. God damnit! He did it again.

Meanwhile, the sergeant paused, supposedly for dramatic effect.

"You will be training with MI6's top agent. He is here for some additional training," the sergeant said, "and the word around is that he's a little unstable. Anyway, he's in C Hut waiting for you. It's larger than yours, so it will house all of you." Was that just Wolf, or did the sergeant have a twinkle of amusement in his eye?

As for the sergeant, well, let's just say he had listened to the entire recording of the car ride to Wales, courtesy of Blunt, and he would have had to restrained himself from laughing, had he been the kind of man to laugh. Ever. Luckily for him, he wasn't, so he didn't have to try too hard to keep from doing so as K-Unit left his cabin.

K-Unit, was, in a word, apprehensive. They would have said nervous, but SAS soldiers didn't get nervous. It just... wasn't something that happened. They were jumpy, sure, but meeting head agent of MI6 wasn't something you did every day.

They were also curious, especially Eagle. They had all heard rumors about the top agent of MI6, during missions and the like. While people had described him with many a variety of words, there was one that continually popped up: young. They had, admittedly, scoffed a bit at this. After all, how young could he be to be at the top? Not very.

Of course, they could have simply meant young for a top agent... yeah, that made sense. That conundrum successfully outmaneuvered, they turned their attention to the fast-approaching hut they were to stay in.

Once within range, they all paused for a moment, stopping in their tracks. The sergeant had warned him that he was unstable, so they had to prepare themselves mentally. While they didn't believe he was insane or even seriously unbalanced... better safe than sorry, right?

K-Unit grouped around the doorway, waiting for someone to take charge. Wolf, being the leader, was pushed towards the door. After Wolf had opened the door, and upon seeing his shocked expression, they had all rushed in.

"CUB?"

**(Normally this is where I would cut it off, but consider it thanks for all those that reviewed, favorited and followed! Love you guys in the least creepy way possible!)**

Alex was discreetly checking his unit members expressions. While none of them seemed openly hostile, none of them seemed especially pleased. Then, noting a new member, who continued to twitch his head around in a crazy manner, Alex stood up.

It was quite funny, actually. All of K-Unit flinched, as if they had expected him to be a hologram, or nothing more than their imagination. Alex had to try very hard to suppress a smile. Not really, but it was nice to think that way. It bothered him how easily he was able to smother his emotions sometimes... that aside, he turned his complete attention to the New Guy, as he had dubbed him in his head.

"Nice to meet you!" Alex said in a light, relaxed tone of voice, while holding out his hand.

Panther was at a loss. He didn't quite know what to do, considering his team members' reactions, so instead of doing anything he was content to stare at Alex's hand like it was a fatal weapon.

Alex took his hand away, feigning total hurt while staring into the guy's eyes. Panther, upon seeing this, automatically felt bad, and so as a way of apoligizing said, "Hello there. I'm Panther, K-Unit's new addition."

"Yes, I know," Alex replyed, smirking ever so slightly when he saw Panther's utter confusion.

Just then, Snake and Wolf began speaking in rapid-fire German. They were the only ones in the group who knew how to speak it, so they often used it as a kind of code.

"Was zur Hölle ist das? Irgendeine Art von Witz?" _What the hell is this? Some kind of joke?_ Wolf near-growled.

Snake was about to reply, before Alex cut him off, in a rather bored, I-don't-really-care-what-you-think kind of tone.

"You know I understand what you're saying, right?" Alex smirked.

Wolf was about to voice his disbelief, when Alex once again cut him off. Wolf kept himself from killing the boy, in favor of listening to what he was going to say.

"No, I'm not a joke. I really am MI6's top agent." Alex said, voice dripping with disdain. "Ich weiß das es schwer zu glauben ist, für die, die  
dachten ich hätte einen reichen Vater." _I know, hard to believe for those who just thought I had a rich daddy._

Wolf, Snake and Eagle cringed simultaneously. They didn't know that Cub had actually heard them say that, though they did admit that back then, they wouldn't really have cared. Knowing now that he wasn't a joke made them feel like complete and utter douchebags

"Listen, Cub...'' Snake began.

Cub silenced him with a simple wave of his hand. "No need to apologize. It's in the past. Just wanted you to feel some sense of shame.'' With that, he grinned cheekily at them before turning to his bag and unpacking.

"So Cub,'' Wolf began casually, "What have you been up to lately?'' Cub didn't even dignify that blatant attempt at digging for information with a raised eyebrow. Cub did, however, begin to chat animatedly with Panther. Why, no one knew except for Cub himself.

''So, Panther, he began, ''What have you been up to lately? Anything fun?'' Panther remained silent, although he was beginning to sweat.

''Fine, fine.'' Alex sighed. ''You leave me with no choice...'' While slightly frightened at his tone of voice, Panther stood his ground.

With that dramatic line, Alex's face seemed to morph. His expression and body language turned from one who was cool and comfortable to tense, and his expression went completely blank, even his eyes.

''Il est comme Jekyll... Qu-est-ce que l'enfer!'' _He's like Jekyll... what the hell? _This was Eagle, in French. After all, the boy couldn't understand more than one language, right?

''Wrong,'' Alex sighed. ''I didn't transform into a different person, just dropped off the pretense that I'm going to enjoy myself here. And this is getting rather old, just so you know.''

''You can understand French, too?'' Panther said, quite shocked.

''Oui. Je peux comprende cela.'' _Yes. I understand this._ Alex said, in what seemed to be an exasperated tone.

''At ito.'' _And this. _Filipino.

''Und dies.'' German.

''وهذا.'' Arabic.

"En dit." Dutch.

"וזה." Hebrew.

"I to." Polish.

"Ac mae hyn." Welsh.

"そして、これ。"Japanese.

"So don't get any ideas." He ended, with what could have possibly been interpreted as a growl. K-Unit, while slightly crestfallen that he understood more languages than they did, were also extremely confused, with one thought reigning in all of their heads:

Just who the hell was this kid?

**Aaaand end chapter! I might even have the next chapter out today, if your reviews (hint hint) inspire me! ;) Anyway, thanks for reading, and please tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks again to all of you who read my story, and decided to do... all of that stuff that I've mentioned before. *is too lazy to name everything* Special thanks to oneBulletForYou who corrected my German error in the last sentence! Anyway, onward to the story! **

Disclaimer: I'm running out of ''witty'' things to say... erm... I'm not Anthony Horowitz, and therefore do not own Alex Rider or any of these characters. There.

However, Wolf was the only one of the four to voice this thought.

"Who the hell are you?" He demanded in a voice that brooked no defiance.

"I'm a teenaged spy," Alex replied, resisting the urge to say _I'm Cub, dumbarse._ "Have you already forgotten? I'm hurt that you find me so uninteresting..."

Eagle, Snake, and Panther all turned interested eyes towards Wolf. Alex smirked, his mission quite obviously complete.

Wolf looked... more like a deer than his formidable codename. Caught in the headlights, that is.

"Did you know about Cub's job?" Eagle asked, much like a predator zeroing in on prey. Wolf cringed, clearly hearing this as much as Alex.

"Erm... yes?" Wolf said, in a near-nervous tone. The room seemed to explode.

"Really? Where did you meet him? Was it on a mission?" Came Eagle's overexcited response.

"What kind of injuries did he have?" Was Snake.

And the response of Panther: "Wait. He's a spy?"

This, or course, rang out above the others. And, once again, all attention was on Alex.

_Well, damn,_ he thought, _that backfired a little bit..._

"Mmhm," Alex said, slinking over to Panther and swinging an arm around his neck, before leaning down to his ear to whisper, "You may be in SAS, but I doubt you can keep up with me."

Panther, swiftly turning the color of the tomato once he realized the implications of that statement, was closed lipped for the rest of the time the conversation went on.

K-Unit spent the rest of their time pestering Panther about what it was Alex has said, and so when Alex said he was going to take a shower, they only spared him a single glance.

Alex thought, once more, _Mission complete._

He then walked all the way over to where the showering block was, and stepped inside. Just his luck. There was a full unit of new recruits getting ready to take a shower.

Too bad, Alex thought, I need a shower. Then, shrugging, he began to strip. The recruits eyed him with varying interest, interest in what such a young person was doing there. ***cough cough***

Once Alex had taken off his shirt, however, interest quickly turned to horror. They had never quite seen someone with such a battered back as Alex.

He had burns across his shoulders and upper back, obvious knife wounds circling the bottom of his ribcage, three huge claw marks straight down the middle of his back, and countless other scars that told a story no one cared to voice.

Of course, Alex never turned around so they could see his front. That would have started up more questions than he would ever answer. And he couldn't handle that right now. So, instead, he entered a spray of lukewarm water, which served to faintly obscure him from view of the others. After being doused in cold water for such long periods of time that he thought he would die just of the cold, the water there didn't bother him as much. He wished he could have warm water, but didn't overly dislike the lukewarm variety. Better some warmth than none, after all.

He rapidly scrubbed the grime, the variety that seems to accumulate on all long car rides, out of his long blond locks. He was lost in thought, so when someone touched his shoulder, he whipped around, on auto-pilot. He assumed a ready-stance, and relaxed only slightly when he saw that it was only a recruit.

Then, he saw the man's wide-eyed gaze, directed at his front. _Oh, shit, _he thought, _this was so not good._

He looked into the man's eyes, letting emotion into his own. The man, seeing the pleading inside Alex's usually emotionless eyes, nodded before going back to chatter with the others.

Alex sighed in relief. The man's silhouette blocked the others' view from him, and so none of them had seen. And so, the luck of the devil has continued its streak. He finished up his shower, not wanting a repeat of the earlier interaction.

He then jogged back to his hut, letting the cool air filter through his hair and dry it off. Lost in thought once again, he only distantly noticed the peculiar atmosphere in the unit.

Snake, addressing him, said "As unit medic I need to give you a full inspection."

Alex, carefully regarding his sentence, turning it over in his head, measuring the pros and cons, finally replied with, "You can inspect my back. Nothing else." Snake, also thinking for a few moments, nodded.

"Better that than nothing at all."

Alex, still wondering what exactly had compelled him to say that, took off his shirt. The sharp intakes of breath did nothing towards making him feel reassured about the solidity of his agreement.

Snake was the first to recover. He was, after all, the medic, and was more accustomed to these things. That is not to say he was prepared for this mass of scars, just that he saw more injuries than the rest of the unit. Still, he was shocked to say the least.

"What the hell, Cub?" He exclaimed.

Alex pulled his shirt back on. "There," He said, "You've examined it. I'm going to bed."

With that, Alex curled up into a ball on his bed, blanket pulled all the way over his head. His breathing soon steadied and slowed.

After sitting for a long while, just staring at the lump on the uncomfortable mattress, everyone finally moved.

"Oh my God," Snake mumbled, sitting down on his bed, head in hands, the picture of abject misery. He couldn't believe that. No one here looked like that on any part of their body. That was just messed up.

Wolf, on the other hand, was stuck somewhere between total numbness and total rage. _How could anyone do this to a child?_ He had joined the SAS to keep others from getting hurt, so this was a large blow to him, especially the despicable part that had bullied Cub so much in Brecon Beacons the last time. He had thought the whole situation at the school was a one time thing...

Eagle's upbeat demeanor was finally extinguished. What was this world coming to, when such a thing could happen? Who did this to him? Stumbling upon anger, Eagle was soon boiling.

Panther was in a word, confused. His mind refused to accept that there might be people in the world who would do this, and people who would send someone into a situation that would bring that. He voiced something that the others hadn't even thought of, "Hey, how old IS Cub anyway?"

"Well," Eagle started, since the other two were definitely not going to answer, "He was probably sixteen when he got here the first time, so eighteen, maybe? He doesn't look any older than twenty..."

"Wrong," a voice came from Cub's bed, and everyone startled, they had thought he was asleep. "I'm sixteen right now." The implications of that statement hit them almost instantly. That meant Cub was... fourteen the first time? That couldn't possibly be right, could it? How could anyone, much less a government agency, send a fucking fourteen year old into the world of espionage and death? Not that sixteen was much better, but they had thought that sixteen would be the bare minimum... fourteen was just... horrible.

Then, something else hit them. How had Cub gotten into that world in the first place?

"Erm... Not to be rude or anything, but why did your parents allow you to become an agent?" Eagle said, quietly.

"Easy," Alex replied, after a few moments, "They died when I was about a year old." Again that night, everyone cringed. That must have been a low blow, hearing K-Unit speaking about his parents in such derogatory terms, when they were in fact dead.

"Guardian?" Snake tried.

"Dead, dead, and dead," Alex replied, referring to Ian, Jack, and the Pleasures, respectively. "Now that that's over with," Alex addressed a completely silent room, "I really am tired. I'm going to bed."

**And with that, chapter four is complete! Hope you liked it, and please review! **


End file.
